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V J. TAGGART. MACHINE FOR EXGAVATING EARTH.

N0. 11,242.- Patented July 4, 1854.

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JOHNTAGGART,-OF ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, EIOHN TAGGART CLAN D RIGHD. PI T'JIS.

MACHINE FORIEXCAVATING EARTH.

.Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,242, d'azted Ju ly t, .1854.

To all 107mm z'tmay concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN TAGGART, of Roxbury, in the county of Norfolk and; State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Machine for Excavating Earth,

and Which May Be Used to Advantage platform upon which the operative parts 1 end of a vertical swiveling or turning l i be operated differently from what they a rocket tube or eye L, that is jointed to! of the machine are supported. Such platform being of a triangular shape and made to rest on two trailing wheels B, B, and a smaller guide wheel, G, fixedflinthe lower shaft E. y V

F, is a secondary platform; it is madeto I rest on the primary platform, and to turn horizontally on a center post or short spindle, G, that is extended upward from the primary platform, and has a large tooth gear H, fixed firmly and immovably to its upper end and above the plane of the top of the secondary platform. The said secondary platform is made to sustain the crane, I, from which the excavating scoops are made to depend. These excavating scoops are formed of, or made like two cups a, b, respectively attached to the inferior armsoftwo levers, ad, that are made to cross one another and turn onia common fulcrum or pin, 6, extending through the prongs of a forked boom, K. The said forked boom, K, is madeto extend through a rocker frame, N, which turns on a bolt} or pin at the head ofthe crane. The last? mentioned rocker frame rotates in a planet transversely of the crane, while the rockeri tube that is jointed to it is to be so joined} as to be capable of moving or turning in? a vertical plane that is perpendicular to the plane of movement of the rocker frame, NJ, The object of the rocker tube and frame is; to permit the forked boom, K,.to be swung or moved in any direction, either towardl or away from the crane, or transversely of} it. At the head or top of the crane there is a pulley or sheave, M, over which a rope,;

N, ex-tends from a Windlass barrel, 0. This rope after passing over the pulley at the head of the crane is separated into two branches or ropes, 7", 9, which extend downward, and opposite directions through the boom (or around sheaves, 71,, 71, arranged in the boom as seen in Fig. 4, which is a front view of the boom and excavating scoops),

and are passed around sheaves, k, Z (arranged respectively on the superior arms of the scoop levers) and are united in one rope and passed and made to work freely through the boom K, the boom being provided with asuitableorifiee or passage for the rope to slidethrough. *One end of this passage is shown in 4, *while in 3, the passage is denoted by dotted lines.

I would here remark that the said union of the two branch lines into one rope and carrying the same through the :boom, andtpermitting them :to slide freely through it is very important, zforit "enables the scoops Lto such branches were so fastened to the boom,

that during the actofclosing the scoops together one of them should happen to bring up againstsome object which would :arres't its movement; should this occuran'o ifurther movement iofthe other scoop toward-its mate would take place, the wholeoperation of both scoops beingstopped by the obstacle.

,When the branches, 7, g, rarewunited :together described, or what is rtheXsame thing, when the main. rope, N", is :passed under and against one of the sheaves, .h, '2', and through the boom and thence (around the sheave,7c, thence backwa-rd through the boom, thence to and around the sheave, Z,

slide through the passages (in the lhoomh which is below the sheave passa'ges, will the drawn through suchpassage, Land the other scoop will continue to move toward its mate until it either meets itor is :brought up thence through the boonaanol against 'the other of the two sheaves, .h, z', :and finally advantage when against the obstacle and so as to cause suchobstacle or object to be firmly grasped by the two scoops. From this it will beseen, how perfectly such an application of the line to the levers of the scoops and to the boom facilitates the correct operation of the scoop. By applying the branch lines to work through the sheave passages in the boom and around the levers of the scoops, the power operating to close the scoops is caused to act to much better advantage, than were the branch ropes attached respectively. to the scoop levers, and not made to work through the boom for in this latter arrangement of them the greatest effect of the power, is when the scoops first move toward each other, the power d1m1n1sh1ng as the scoops approach each other, whereas with my improved arrangement of the lines or ropes, the reverse is the case, the power of draft on the scoop levers increases as they approach the boom, or the scoops close together. This is as it should be, for the resistance to the scoops on entering the earth, increases as they pass into it. Consequently we desire the power to overcome such resistance to increase in proportion to the augmentation of the same. The said mode of applying the rope, N, to the boom and the scoop levers, and providing the boom with what may be termed a compensating passage for the rope to slide through as described when one of the scoops brings up against any obstacle, and has its motion toward the, other scoop arrested, constitute important improvements and render my excavating machineof great advantage not only in removing mud or common earth, but of seizing and lifting large masses of timber, rocks, or'other ponderous bodies.

The application of the boom, K, and its working lines'to the crane insuch manner that the boom may. not only have vertical movements, but lateral ones in any direction relatively to the platform on which the crane rests, or to a vertical line passing through the rocker tube L, gives to my improved excavating machine an important compared with .many others, 'as it enables the boom when its scoops have grasped a stump or any timber thatadheres firmly to the earth, to be moved laterally by the crane so as to bring a leverage on the scoops'in a lateral direction by which the extraction of the stump or article from the earth'may be greatly facilitated.

The scoops are formed very much like the halves of a bivalve shell, and each has attached to it one of two branch ropes m, n, which are connected to it (as seen in Fig. 2,) and to a rope, 0, which extends upward and is carried around a sheave, 79, (applied in the upper part of the crane) and thence descends to and is wound around a Windlass barrel, 3*, arranged as seen in Fig. 3. From this Windlass barrel a rope, t, descends and has a weight, a, appended to it. On the shaft of the said Windlass barrel is a brake wheel, a, around which a spring brake, '1), passes and is attached to and worked by a handlever, w, arranged as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. One end of a rope, w, is attached to an arm or strut, 7 extending from the top of the crane. From this strut a rope passes upward and through the top of the excavator boom, K, and around a sheave, y, placed therein, thence it descends to the secondary platform as seen in the drawings. The object of this rope is to prevent. the boom, K, from rising upward while the excavating scoops are being closed. This being done, either by draft on the lower end of the rope, or by winding the rope around a suitable belaying pin aflixed to some proper part of the crane. The main driving shaft of the machine, 2, is worked by a steam engine shown at, A, or by a power applied to a crank, C. On this shaft is a pinion gear, D, that engages with a large spur gear, E that is fastened on a horizontal shaft, F, (see Fig. 5, which denotes a transverse section of the machine taken through the axis of the shaft, F). The said shaft, F, carries the Windlass barrel, O, which revolves freely upon and is so applied to it, as to be capable of being slided endwise upon it. To this shaft and Windlass barrel, a common clutch, G, is applied and the Windlass barrel is moved on the shaft by means of a forked lever, H, such movement being either for the purpose of clutching the windlass to the shaft, or unclutching it therefrom according to the direction in When the Windlass will be wound upon it, and by its act-ion on the scoop levers will cause the ex cavating scoops to approach one another and finally close together. When they have closed together the line by which the boom is held downward is slackened. As soon as this takes place, the further movement of the Windlass in winding up its rope will cause the boom and scoops to be elevated vertically. During the time the scoops are closing, the rope, 0, will be wound around the Windlass barrel, .9, by the descent of the weight, a, the said weight serving to keep the rope, 0, and its branch rope drawn taut.

As soon as the scoops have been elevated and moved over the spot where the contents of the scoops are to be discharged, an attenant lays hold of the brake lever of the brake wheel of the Windlass s, and pressing it downward brings the brake into action upon the brake wheel, so as to arrest any rotary movement of it; this being done, he lays drawings.

ing place, their weight will be thrown upon the branch lines m, n, so as tocause the scoops to open apart and discharge their load; as soon as this takes place and the scoops have been moved overthe ground to be excavated, the brake lever is to be elevated so as to remove the pressure of the brake from the brake wheel and permit the scoops to descend to the ground.

On the outer end of the shaftof the windlass barrel, 0, a small beveled gear a is fixed. On a vertical shaft, 6 placed close to thebeveled gear, (4 two other beveled gears, 0 (P, are fixed, one above the beveled gear, 6 and the other below it as seen in the This shaft, 6 slides freely in vertical directions, and is made capable of being raised or lowered by means of a lever, f and so as to bring either one of the gears, 0 (Z into engagement with the gear, a or both of them out of engagement with the same as circumstances may require. There is fixed on thelower end of the shaft, 6 a gear, 6 whichis made to engage with a large stationary gear, H. The gear, 6 isto be made much wider than the gear, H, in order that the two gears may be in engagement with each other, whenever either of the gears, 0 (Z is in engagement with the gear, (4 The object of the beveled gear, (1.

sliding shaft, 6 beveled gears 0 (Z and gears at the lower part of the shaft, 6 is for the purpose of enabling the crane to be turned around horizontally either in one direction or the other on the spindle, G,by the action of the driving power exerted through the shaftof the Windlass, O, as will be readily understood by the description hereinbefore given.

My improved machine for excavating is intended to be operated, by a steam engine located on itssecondary or crane platform; the boiler of such steamenginebeing seen at hf, in the drawings, 2', being the chimney of said boiler. The mode of operation renders it very effective in excavating soil, and

for the purpose of dredging rivers or harfriction brakeand brake wheel with 'a windlass, =but i What I do claim, is

1. The combination of the gravitating weight, a, and its line, t, with the Windlass barrel, 8, and the brake wheel a, so as to operate automatically and rotate both windlass and brake wheel, and not only take up the slack of the rope, 0, while the scoops are being elevated as described, but at the same time to set the brake wheel ready for the action of the brake, when it becomes necessary to drop the scoops in order to discharge their load.

2. I do not claim the employment of a single line and two branch lines applied re spectively to the two scoop levers and independently of their boom, but what I do claim is the arrangement of the branch lines, f, g, of the line N, so as not only to operate through the ends of the scoop levers, but also through guiding 0r sheave passages of the boom, such an arrangement of the branch lines producing an increase of draft on the scoop levers during the operation of closing them as specified.

3. I also claim in combination with the afore described arrangement of the line, N, through the sheave openings of the boom, K, and the two scoop levers or about their sheaves as specified, the union of the branches into one line in connection with the carrying such line through a compensating passage of the boom,K, and permit. ting it to slide freely through the same in manner as described, the same being for the purpose of enabling the scoops to close together or upon an object, whenever the movement of one of them, during the opera tion of closing them together, is arrested by contact with an obstacle as explained.

t. I am aware that a single scoop has been applied to a boom, and that boom made to slide through a slotted horizontal rocker shaft projected over the side of a scow. I am also aware that double scoops have been applied to a boom or an upright frame made to have vertical movements and to work through a derrick or platform. I do not therefore claim any such applications, of a boom of a single scoop, or the supporters of a set of scoops; neither do I claim the combination of a rocker tube or eye, L, with a rocker frame, N, as described and for the purpose of obtaining a compound movement, but what I do claim is the combining the boom, K, and the working ropes of it and its scoops with a crane, substantially as specified, so that scoops may be free to be moved not only vertically, but also in any direction may be employed to effect leverage on the my signature, this twentieth day of October scoops in a lateral direction so as to aid in A. D. 1853.

disengaging the stump or' article grasped by the scoops and to efiect this Without in- JOHN TAGGART 5 jurious strain on the boom or the parts Witnesses:

through Which the boom slides. R. N. EDDY,

' In testimony whereof, I have hereto set F. P. HALE, Jr. 

